We don't know what's caused it, but it's probably a cyberwar with aliens living among us

Some unknowable terror has struck at the heart of the 21st century's communications infrastructure, as complaints mount regarding the global unavailability of Microsoft services, including email and authentication.

Has the cyberwar with the aliens begun? We're not sure. All we know at this early stage of the terrible and ultimate conflict which will undoubtedly soon leave us all ruefully regretting the bitterness with which we comfortably drank our morning coffees is that the first victim was potential leader of the resistance, Microsoft.

Official word on the cause of the devastation has not been forthcoming. Users have also complained about Microsoft online authentication, reporting that it "seems to be crashing out partway through when you enter the password".

Among the victims is our own Tim Anderson, although due to the lack of authentication services we understand he may have already been replaced by one of the new alien enemies now controlling what had hitherto been his slice of Microsoft's estate.

The outage follows hot on the heels of the great S3izure of 2017, in which an AWS region went offline because of an incorrectly entered command, at least according to reports, which we have no concrete evidence were not put out by aliens preparing for an intergalactic cyberwar.

A Microsoft spokesperson told The Register: "We are aware of reports that some users are having difficulty signing in to some services. We are investigating this issue." ®